News, Updates and Insights. How has 2020 gone for you? So far this year has brought challenges we never thought we’d face, good times, bad times and quite frankly, strange times indeed. With Covid-19 putting paid to all plans with almost immediate effect, it felt as though the world would be on hold forever.

While all this has been happening, we’ve been able to carry on supplying our clients with packaging. We helped them to supply their customers with everything from flour, rice and other essential items. We had planned to exhibit at a number of shows including Interzoo 2020, but with most of these postponed until next year, we now have to pivot our focus towards maintaining relationships in a virtual capacity. Working at home provided some of our team members with a steep learning curve as we remained fully operational throughout lockdown, with no staff furloughed or laid off. Our office remained open with skeleton staff available, whilst other roles were worked remotely.

So as the world tries to revert back to normality, we thought we’d share news and updates on everything that has happened this year, and provide you with some brief insights of what we think may happen within the industry within the rest of 2020.

JANUARY

January brought with it the promise of another action-packed year in the packaging industry and with Law Print. Our diary was packed with shows, meetings and product launches.

We spoke to Noba about their journey with us and launched their Case Study on our website.

“In keeping with Noba’s commitment to offering real added value to their customers, we also introduced a side gusset handle to the bag.  This really gave the packaging an innovative edge and advantage over competitors’ products.  The handle makes the 12Kg cat litter easy to carry and pour, which offers consumers the convenience they actively seek.

We also celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our Ready 2 Recycle range. This range is available in the Woven BOPP, Pouch, Flat Bottom, Quad Seal and Paper specifications.

This month, after introducing the buying function to the company structure in September 2015, Samantha joined us as our new Purchasing Manager. From a rigid packaging background, Sam brings her own experience and a fresh outlook on our supply chain.

FEBRUARY

We exhibited at Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Florida. We had it all covered from cats to dogs! Our Ready 2 Recycle range went down really well with the US crowd and had us all talking. Overall, the Expo brought us a successful few days but little did we know what was around the corner.

With Covid-19 fast approaching the UK, we knew we had to make sure that we had plans in place. This month was spent preparing as much as possible in order to remain in a good position to deal with any and all problems that could arise.

MARCH

The news was spreading fast within the world about a new virus that was causing entire countries to lockdown.
And, following suit, the UK shut down on 23^rd March. Law Print Pack, however, did not. We were still very active, particularly in the food packaging sector! Packaging for flour, rice and other essential items became high on the list of priorities for our clients. With the majority of our staff working from home, we were still able to meet these demands and provide our normal excellent customer service, updates and news from start to finish.

As things progressed, a few of the shows that we were due to exhibit at were, understandably, postponed. Most of these now have a rescheduled date. Keep an eye out for those dates nearer the time on our website or social media pages!

APRIL

As panic set in across the country, April began with mixed feelings. The uncertainty of the situation was the topic of conversation for many of our clients, but with many of working from home and a few skeleton staff in the office, we were able to reassure clients that their packaging needs would be met.

All our partner manufacturers were still fully operational. They were working extra shifts/days to make sure that our customer’s bags were delivered where and when they were needed.

MAY

Lockdown restrictions were starting to be relaxed across the UK and in some parts of the world. At Law Print Pack, our usual meetings were now taking place virtually, which was important to us. At Law Print we like to check in with our clients and maintaining personal contact is imperative to us. And even though some people were reluctant to reintroduce other people into their workplace, the travel restrictions were starting to be lifted and travel across the UK was now possible!

Interzoo 2020, the pet food industry’s key trade show, due to be held in Nuremberg, Germany, had however been postponed to 2021.  Auf Wiedersehen for now but we will be back there soon!

JUNE

As the UK made plans to return to normal; pubs reopening, lockdown restrictions easing further, a lot of our staff made the return to work. Different measures were put in place to facilitate the transition from home to the office including new sanitising stations, glass screens and other important policies.

We said an emotional goodbye to Kevin Langan and wished him a well-deserved retirement! Adrian Farnell, our Quality Control Manager joined us with a wealth of experience within the print industry.

JULY

 As we are still all settling back in the office environment and adjusting to the new workplace guidelines, the whole team embraced the last few weeks with a positive attitude and renewed energy – always nice to see some smiley faces in the office and have a “safely distanced” catch up over a coffee! We soon got very busy with new projects and old ones that had been put on hold during the lockdown, and overall we were pleased to see that things were (slowly) going back to normal or some sort of normality.

Sarah Lewis, our Social Media Manager joined us help us to provide updates, news and insights to all clients, whether new, existing or prospective.

We can’t believe that half the year has already passed and we are well and truly in the summer season! Some of us will probably enjoy a “staycation” and others will carry on working with our customers. We’ll continue to help them to pick up on packaging requirements for the end of the year or even 2021!

If you haven’t been in touch yet or have a new project in mind, give us a call! It’s never been a better time to start things moving.

 What does the future hold?

As we head towards the second half of 2020, it has become obvious that a lot of our clients are shifting focus and changing the way that they work.

Getting back to meeting our clients is a big focus for us. We believe face to face contact is incredibly important and nurtures relationships throughout the process. Keep an eye out on our social media pages for new updates, news and insights.